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Sunday, September 11, 2005
Ind. Law - Review of recent death penalty commutations in Indiana
The Louisville Courier Journal's Lesley Stedman Weidenbener's Sunday column is headlined "Governors find leeway in granting clemency: Daniels, Kernan cited solid reasons for mercy." It begins:
For nearly five decades, no Indiana governor chose to spare the life of anyone on death row.The state executed a dozen inmates during that period, which included a brief span when the U.S. Supreme Court put a moratorium on capital punishment.
But in the past 13 months, two governors have spared three men from death.
One inmate had an IQ just above the threshold of mental retardation and one's guilt was questioned by some because of evidence that never reached a court.
The third -- Arthur Baird, whose death sentence was commuted by Gov. Mitch Daniels late last month -- has been determined by doctors to be mentally ill and delusional. Life without parole wasn't an option at the time of his trial.
A decade ago, decisions to commute death sentences might have seemed politically difficult, if not impossible, according to many legal experts.
But today, governors seem to have more latitude to spare the lives of some condemned killers and execute others without incurring the wrath of voters, large numbers of whom still support capital punishment.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on September 11, 2005 07:41 AM
Posted to Indiana Government | Indiana Law